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This Hot Fudge Chocolate Pudding Cake is made with a layer of moist chocolate cake and a layer of fudge which sinks to the bottom as the cake rises, creating a delicious molten lava pudding. The cake is very simple to make and takes only 45 minutes including the baking time! Similar to a molten lava cake, it is always a crowd pleaser, especially during the colder months.
The chocolate cake recipe is inspired by my delectable, and very popular, Easy Chocolate Cake. That cake is incredible on its own, but the hot fudge pudding just takes it to the next level.
Pssst – do you want to make this cake even easier? Try my Microwave Hot Fudge Chocolate Pudding Cake which comes together in just 15 minutes with no eggs, and has the same decadent fudge sauce in it!
INGREDIENTS REQUIRED
This Hot Fudgy Chocolate Pudding Cake is made using simple ingredients you should already have in your pantry (all quantities are given in the recipe card at the bottom of this post):
Chocolate Cake:
- All purpose flour
- Granulated sugar – can be substituted with caster sugar
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Large eggs
- Vegetable oil – or use any other neutral tasting oil
- Buttermilk – if you don’t have buttermilk, you can easily make it yourself with milk and vinegar or lemon juice
- Boiling water – this helps bloom the cocoa powder
- Cocoa powder – I recommend Dutch processed, but you can also use natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- Instant coffee
Hot Fudge Pudding:
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Cocoa powder – Dutch processed or natural
- Boiling water
HOW TO MAKE HOT FUDGE CHOCOLATE PUDDING CAKE
Let’s go over the simple method to make this cake – it should not take you longer than 15 minutes of work!
1. Prepare the cake batter
Before getting started, pre-heat your oven to 350F (conventional) and brush a 7×11″ baking dish (I used ceramic) with a little butter.
In a clean bowl, combine all the dry ingredients except the cocoa powder, making sure to sift the flour. Use a whisk to mix them together.
To the dry ingredients, add the eggs, oil and buttermilk, and gently whisk until combined. If you see any lumps forming, use the whisk to break them down, but avoid overmixing the batter.
In a separate bowl, pour boiling water over the cocoa powder and instant coffee, and whisk until you see a shiny, smooth chocolatey mixture. This step will ‘bloom’ the cocoa powder, bringing out its lovely chocolate aroma and flavor.
Pour the bloomed cocoa mix into the rest of the batter, and gently fold until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.
2. Add the Hot Fudge Pudding ingredients
This part is so simple, and feels like it should be wrong but it isn’t! First, mix together the two types of sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl, making sure to break down any lumps.
Then, sprinkle over the mixture on top of the cake batter inside the baking pan, trying your best to spread it out evenly.
Then, carefully pour over the boiling water in the same baking pan. Be careful not to splash the water – you can use the back of a spoon to help pour more slowly and evenly, and try to get the water spread evenly too.
3. Bake the cake
Bake the cake for ~30 minutes. In the oven, a few magical things will happen:
- The hot water will dissolve the sugars and cocoa, and cook down to form a fudgy sauce
- The cake will bake and rise
- The fudgy sauce will sink to the bottom
You want to stop baking the cake when it feels firm to touch on the top, but a toothpick inserted should have fudge on it! With this cake, I find it is better to lean towards underbaking than overbaking, as we want it to be like molten lava.
4. Serve!
That’s it! Now it is time to enjoy your hard work. Serve the cake while it is still hot. Just like molten lava cake, this cake is great with some vanilla ice cream on top.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
A 7×11″ baking dish has 77 square inches of area. Any other pan with a similar area will work, e.g., 9×9″. You can also do a larger dish (e.g., 9×13) but the cake will not be as tall and you will need to reduce the baking time.
Yes, you can reduce the sugar if you don’t like your dessert to be too sweet. I would suggest reducing the sugar in the cake batter itself to 1 cup (instead of 1 1/4), and you can reduce the sugar in the fudge sauce by 2-4 tablespoons.
You do not need a substitute for buttermilk – simply combine milk with vinegar or lemon juice to make it instantly.
You can store this cake in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, and warm up in the microwave before eating.
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Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour (195g)
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar (275g) – can be reduced to 1 cup if you don’t want the cake to be too sweet
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (100g)
- 1/2 cup buttermilk (120g) – use 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 tbsp vinegar to make your own
- 1/4 cup boiling water (60g)
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder (33g)
- 1 tsp instant coffee
Hot Fudge Pudding:
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar (110g)
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (100g)
- 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups boiling water (360g)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350F (conventional) and prepare a 7×11 or 9×9″ baking dish with some butter (I recommend ceramic so you can serve the cake in the same dish)
- Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl, getting rid of any lumps
- Add the eggs, oil and buttermilk, and use a hand whisk to combine the ingredients
- In a separate bowl, pour the boiling water on top of the cocoa powder and instant coffee, and whisk until smooth and shiny
- Add the cocoa powder mixture to the remaining cake batter and gently fold until combined
- Pour the batter in the prepared baking dish
- For the fudge sauce, mix the sugars and cocoa powder and get rid of any lumps. Sprinkle over the cake batter inside the baking dish
- Gently pour over the boiling water on top of the cake batter, being careful and spreading it evenly
- Place the cake in the oven and bake for ~30-35 min depending on the size of your pan. You want the cake to look firm and cooked on the top, but it should be fudgy and gooey on the bottom – it is better to underbake than overbake it
- Serve the cake while still hot with some vanilla ice cream, and enjoy!
Video Tutorial
RELATED RECIPES
Are you a chocolate person? You’re going to LOVE these recipes, too:
- My easy, foolproof and insanely decadent easy classic chocolate cake
- Easy Chocolate Tiramisu which is made with only 7 ingredients!
- Rich, decadent and ultra fudgy Matilda Chocolate Cake for the serious chocoholics
- Easy Chocolate Mousse Cake with a light genoise sponge and 2 ingredient chocolate mousse
Comments
Ridah Tufail
Hi Zoha
Can we make this ahead of time? How to reheat it then?
Zoha Malik
Hi! Yes, you can microwave it 🙂
Sadia
Hi,
Can I just use brown sugar instead of caster in cake as well as fudge?
Zoha Malik
Hi! It should be fine
Sharlene
Just a heads up that the cake recipe calls for 1/4 cup water and 1/3 cup cocoa powder, but the video states 1/3 cup for both. I only had an 8×8 baking dish, so I’m hoping my timing adjustments work— but it smells incredible! I’m impatiently waiting 😋
Zoha Malik
Thank you for the correction, Sharlene! always good to trust the written recipe over the video as I def make mistakes here and there :’) Hope it turned out good!?
SaintsBaker
Good evening, Zoha. I am very excited to make this, but I have a question first. The recipe says to use a 7×11 or 9×9, but the pictures make it look like you used a 9×13. That dish may just look bigger than it is, but I wanted to be sure. Also, if I wanted to do a 9×13 version, would I just double the ingredients?
Thank you so much! Love your site and your recipes! ❤️
Zoha
Hi there! The pictures show a 7×11 pan, definitely not 9×13 🙂 I would do 1.5x for 9×13 pan
Shehnaz Shaik
Zoha I trust your recipes blindly. I had baked so many of your recipes all of them are super hit. I made this fudge cake today for an all girls watch party, all of them literally MOANED at every Bite.(I wish you could hear the sounds🤣) I mean I received compliments before but this is something else. I served it with Haagan Daaz Vanilla icecream & its heavenly. Seriously if anyone’s reading my comment you should go & bake it RIGHT NOW!!
How much more can I admire you Zoha 😍
I also made Zoha’s 10min chocolate pudding with this because I overbaked and lost some lava fudge in the center, it just elevated it to next level one should try it to know what I’m saying.
Zoha
hahahaha this made my day. thank you SO much. and I totally hear you on the moaning LOL
Manal
super easy to follow AND no fancy ingredients. its in the oven rn so im gonna continue this review in a sec.
OHMYGOODNESS Absolutely fudgy moist and delicious!!! YOU DO NOT WANT TO SKIP ON MAKING THIS TRUST ME
You’ve done it again Zoha! I’m so glad you decided to pursue this life and giving us one great recipe after the other.
Zoha
Aww, this made me so happy, thank youuuuu!!
Senthil Muthiah
If I make this recipe in a 13×9, can I double this recipe?
Zoha
Hi there – do 1.5x instead of 2x
Noreen RASHID
can you please tell me the baking time of it ?
Kulsoom
Hi Zoha!
I want to try to make this recipe to take with me for a potluck. How can I warm it up without compromising on the freshness?
Thank-you ☺️
Zoha
Hi Kulsoon! You can take out the cake from the oven ~2-3 minutes before it’s fully done. Then reheat in the microwave for 1 minute 🙂
Suhela
Assalam aleikum zoha….I hope it dsnt turn out to be too sweet with sugar inside n the dusting plus served with ice cream…I want you make it for a get together dinner at home…
Zoha
You can use plain whipped cream in place of ice cream if you don’t want it to be too sweet 🙂
Tooba
I tried it recipe n it turned out delish! Thanx
Zoha
Thank you so much!
nicole
is this made with instant coffee powder or prepared instant coffee
Saima Ihsan
yummy and delicious
Todd Snell
Directions were easy to follow. Takes a bit more time then stated. Group of 6 adults all found the chocolate and sweetness flavor to be quite mild and we were hoping for more. A quality brownie recipe covered after baking in a high quality melted fudge would very likely result in a more elevated dessert.
Ams
I’ve made the one serve version of this a million times and enjoy it every single time. made this for some guests and they loved it
I recommend your recipes to people too frequently because they never go wrong. love your work 💕💕
Sanaa
I tried this today and to be honest, I am alittle disappointed. I followed this recipe exactly except bake time because 35 mins was not enough so I baked for 50 mins. The cake tasted more like flour than anything else. I am just wondering what I could’ve done wrong! I have tried almost 3 of your recipes and all turned super delicious except this one! HELP PLEASE!
Swathy
Hi Zoha,
This is such an awesome recipe and it is a very heavenly indulgence! Absolutely love it and will keep making it often! I would like to know if this can be made eggless as well and if so what can i use instead of eggs? Thanks so much! 😃
Sana
This was scrumptious! I cut back on the sugar as recommended and it was just right for us! thanks for such a delicious recipe 🙂
Ayah
hi..can this be made a few hrs before serving ?
Zoha
Yes, just reheat in the microwave 🙂
Jigyasha Maloo
can we make this without eggs
Mehreen khawaja
Hi!!!
can I add gluten free flour instead of all purpose flour? and do I need to add anything else aswell?